A swirl injector for a rocket engine being developed by \emph{AESIR} (Association of EngineeringStudents in Rocketry) was simulated with different geometric parameters. The swirl injector is usedto atomize the ethanol used as fuel and to create a spray that mixes well with the oxidizer withinthe combustion chamber. Inlet slot angle (90, 75, 60 and 45 degrees), swirl chamber length (15, 20and 25 mm) and outlet orifice diameter (3, 6 and 9 mm) were examined.Previous studies in swirl injectors show that CFD can be used to analyze the flow in such aninjector, furthermore theoretical models exist that can predict some of the general characteristicsof the flow. Previous studies have also simulated transient behavior and flow features effectingbreakup of fuel flowing through a swirl injector.A steady state simulation using Volume of Fluid (VOF) multiphase modeling and $k$-$\omega$ \emph{SST}turbulence modeling was used to simulate the swirl injector intended for the rocket engine. It wasfound that a wider outlet orifice would give a wider cone angle of spray. This is desirable in thecurrent rocket engine design as it will promote greater mixing of fuel and oxidizer higher up in thecombustion chamber. No large variances was observed when different inlet slot angles was simulated. Ashorter swirl chamber length reduced the amount of losses in energy due to viscous forces. The flowafter the outlet orifice was not simulated so the effect of turbulence kinetic energy and energylosses outside of the swirl injector have not been analyzed, previous studies have indicated thatturbulent kinetic energy does have an effect on the breakup and atomization of the fuel.It was concluded that using a wider outlet orifice of 9 mm gave the best results out of the differentgeometric parameters analyzed and the swirl chamber length should be a short as possible.

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Turbulent swirling flows are important in many applications including gas turbines, furnaces and cyclone dust separators among others. Although the mean flow fields have been relatively well studied, a complete understanding of the flow field including its dynamics has not been achieved. The work contained in this dissertation attempts to shed further light on the behavior of turbulent swirling flows, especially focused on the dynamic behavior of a turbulent swirling flow encountering a sudden expansion. Experiments were performed in a new isothermal turbulent swirling flow test facility. Two geometrical nozzle configurations were studied. The \cb\ nozzle configuration exhibits a cylindrical \cb\ in the center of the nozzle. The free vortex nozzle configuration is obtained when the cylindrical \cb\ is removed. Detailed laser velocimeter measurements were performed to map out the flow field near the sudden expansion of the 2.9" (ID) nozzle leading to the 7.4" (ID) downstream section. In addition to presenting detailed flow profiles for both nozzle and downstream flow fields, representative frequency spectra of the flow dynamics are presented. Along with the flow time histories and histograms, the wide variety of dynamic behavior was thus described in great detail. The dynamics observed in the experiment can be classified into three main categories: coherent and large scale motion, intermittent motion and coherent periodic motion. Free vortex geometry flows, in the parameter space of the experiments (Swirl number = 0 - 0.21), exhibited mostly coherent and large scale motion. The spectra in these cases were broadband with very light concentration of spectral energy observed in some specific cases. Center--body geometry flows exhibited all three categories of flows as swirl strength was increased from zero. Flows with little or no swirl exhibited broad--band spectra similar to those for the free vortex geometry. Intermediate swirl levels resulted in a large amount of low frequency energy which, with the aid of the time histories, was identified as a large scale intermittence associated with radial movement of the annular jet as it enters the sudden expansion. Large swirl levels resulted in high magnitude coherent oscillations concentrated largely just downstream of the sudden expansion. Linear stability analysis was used to help in the interpretation of the observed dynamics. Although, as implemented here (using the parallel flow assumption), the analysis was not successful in quantitatively matching the experimentally observed dynamics, significant insight into the physical mechanisms of the observed dynamics was obtained from the analysis. Specifically, the coherent oscillations observed for larger swirl levels were able to be described in terms of the interaction between the inner and outer shear layers of the flow field. / Ph. D.

Axisymmetric and swirling jets are generic flows that characterize many natural and man-made flows. These include cylindrical shear layer/mixing layer flows, aircraft jets and wakes, shedding of leading edge and wing tip vortices, tornadoes, astrophysical plasma flows and flows in mechanical devices such as supersonic combustion chambers and cyclone separators. These and other applications have resulted in a high level of interest in the stability of axisymmetric and swirling jets. To date, the majority of studies on stability of axisymmetric and swirling jets have been completed under the assumption of steady flow in both axial and azimuthal (swirl) directions. Yet, flows such as the ones mentioned above can have an inherent unsteadiness. Moreover, such unsteadiness can be used to control stability and thus flow characteristics in axisymmetric and swirling jets. In this work effects of periodic variations on the temporal stability of axisymmetric and swirling jets is examined. The unsteadiness is introduced in the former as a periodic variation of the axial velocity component of the flow, and in the latter as a periodic variation of the azimuthal (swirl) velocity component of the flow. The temporal linear hydrodynamic stability of both steady inviscid axisymmetric and swirling jets is reviewed. An analytical dispersion relation is obtained in both cases and solved numerically. In the case of the steady axisymmetric jet, growth rate and celerity of unstable axisymmetric and helicalmodes are determined as functions of axial wavenumber. Results show that the inviscid axisymmetric jet is unstable to all values of axisymmetric and helical modes. In the case of the steady swirling jet, growth rate and celerity of axisymmetric modes are determined as functions of the axial wavenumber and swirl number. Results show that the inviscid swirling jet is unstable to all values of axial and azimuthal wavenumber, however, it is shown that increasing the swirl decreases the growth rate and increases the celerity of axisymmetric disturbances. The effects of periodic variations on the stability of a mixing layer is also reviewed. Results show that when the instability time scale is much smaller than the mean time scale a transformation of the time variable may be taken that, when the quasi-steady approach works, will reduce the unsteady field to that of the corresponding steady field in the new time scale. The price paid for this transformation, however, is a modulation of the amplitude and phase of the unsteady modes. Extending the results from the unsteady mixing layer, the stability of a periodically unsteady inviscid axisymmetric jet is considered. An analytical dispersion relation is obtained and results show that for the unsteady inviscid axisymmetric jet, the quasi-steady approach works. Following this, the stability of a periodically unsteady swirling jet is considered and an analytical dispersion relation is obtained. It is shown that for the unsteady inviscid swirling jet, the quasi-steady approach does not work. Resulting modulations of unsteady modes are shown via a numerical solution to the unsteady dispersion relation. In both cases, using established results for unsteady mixing layers, these results are substantiated analytically by showing that the unsteady axisymmetric jet can be reduced the the exact equational form of the steady axisymmetric jet in a new time scale, whereas the unsteady swirling jet cannot. / Master of Science

While the gas turbine research community is continuously pursuing development of higher cyclic efficiency designs by increasing the combustor firing temperatures and thermally resistant turbine vane / blade materials, a simultaneous effort to reduce the emission levels of high temperature driven thermal NOX also needs to be addressed. Lean premixed combustion has been found as one of the solutions to these objectives. However, since less amount of air is available for backside cooling of liner walls, it becomes very important to characterize the convective heat transfer that occurs on the inside wall of the combustor liners. These studies were explored using laboratory scale experiments as well as numerical approaches for several inlet flow conditions under both non-reacting and reacting flows. These studies may be expected to provide valuable insights for the industrial design communities towards identifying thermal hot spot locations as well as in quantifying the heat transfer magnitude, thus aiding in effective designs of the liner walls. Lean premixed gas turbine combustor flows involve strongly coupled interactions between several aspects of physics such as the degree of swirl imparted by the inlet fuel nozzle, premixing of the fuel and incoming air, lean premixed combustion within the combustor domain, the interaction of swirling flow with combustion driven heat release resulting in flow dilation, the resulting pressure fluctuations leading to thermo-acoustic instabilities there by creating a feedback loop with incoming reactants resulting in flow instabilities leading to flame lift off, flame extinction etc. Hence understanding combustion driven swirling flow in combustors continues to be a topic of intense research. In the present study, numerical predictions of swirl driven combustor flows were analyzed for a specific swirl number of an industrial fuel nozzle (swirler) using a commercial computational fluid dynamics tool and compared against in-house experimental data. The latter data was obtained from a newly developed test rig at Applied Propulsion and Power Laboratory (APPL) at Virginia Tech. The simulations were performed and investigated for several flow Reynolds numbers under non-reacting condition using various two equation turbulence models as well as a scale resolving model. The work was also extended to reacting flow modeling (using a partially premixed model) for a specific Reynolds number. These efforts were carried out in order investigate the flow behavior and also characterize convective heat transfer along the combustor wall (liner). Additionally, several parametric studies were performed towards investigating the effect of combustor geometry on swirling flow and liner hear transfer; and also to investigate the effect of inlet swirl on the jet impingement location along the liner wall under both non-reacting as well as reacting conditions. The numerical results show detailed comparison against experiments for swirling flow profiles within the combustor under reacting conditions indicating a good reliability of steady state modeling approaches for reacting conditions; however, the limitations of steady state RANS turbulence models were observed for non-reacting swirling flow conditions, where the flow profiles deviate from experimental observations in the central recirculation region. Also, the numerical comparison of liner wall heat transfer characteristics against experiments showed a sensitivity to Reynolds numbers. These studies offer to provide preliminary insights of RANS predictions based on commercial CFD tools in predicting swirling, non-reacting and reacting flow and heat transfer. They can be extended to reacting flow heat transfer studies in future and also may be upgraded to unsteady LES predictions to complement future experimental observations conducted at the in-house test facility. / Ph. D. / While the gas turbine research community is continuously pursuing development of higher cyclic efficiency designs by increasing the combustor firing temperatures and thermally resistant turbine vane / blade materials, a simultaneous effort to reduce the emission levels of high temperature driven thermal NOX also needs to be addressed. Lean premixed combustion has been found as one of the solutions to these objectives. However, since less amount of air is available for backside cooling of liner walls, it becomes very important to characterize the convective heat transfer that occurs on the inside wall of the combustor liners. These studies were explored using laboratory scale experiments as well as numerical approaches for several inlet flow conditions under both non-reacting and reacting flows. These studies may be expected to provide valuable insights for the industrial design communities towards identifying thermal hot spot locations as well as in quantifying the heat transfer magnitude, thus aiding in effective designs of the liner walls. Lean premixed gas turbine combustor flows involve strongly coupled interactions between several aspects of physics such as the degree of swirl imparted by the inlet fuel nozzle, premixing of the fuel and incoming air, lean premixed combustion within the combustor domain, the interaction of swirling flow with combustion driven heat release resulting in flow dilation, the resulting pressure fluctuations leading to thermo-acoustic instabilities there by creating a feedback loop with incoming reactants resulting in flow instabilities leading to flame lift off, flame extinction etc. Hence understanding combustion driven swirling flow in combustors continues to be a topic of intense research. In the present study, numerical predictions of swirl driven combustor flows were analyzed for a specific swirl number of an industrial fuel nozzle (swirler) using a commercial computational fluid dynamics tool and compared against in-house experimental data. The latter data was obtained from a newly developed test rig at Applied Propulsion and Power Laboratory (APPL) at Virginia Tech. The simulations were performed and investigated for several flow Reynolds numbers under non-reacting condition using various two equation turbulence models as well as a scale resolving model. The work was also extended to reacting flow modeling (using a partially premixed model) for a specific Reynolds number. These efforts were carried out in order investigate the flow behavior and also characterize convective heat transfer along the combustor wall (liner). Additionally, several parametric studies were performed towards investigating the effect of combustor geometry on swirling flow and liner hear transfer; and also to investigate the effect of inlet swirl on the jet impingement location along the liner wall under both non-reacting as well as reacting conditions. The numerical results show detailed comparison against experiments for swirling flow profiles within the combustor under reacting conditions indicating a good reliability of steady state modeling approaches for reacting conditions; however, the limitations of steady state RANS turbulence models were observed for non-reacting swirling flow conditions, where the flow profiles deviate from experimental observations in the central recirculation region. Also, the numerical comparison of liner wall heat transfer characteristics against experiments showed a sensitivity to Reynolds numbers. These studies offer to provide preliminary insights of RANS predictions based on commercial CFD tools in predicting swirling, non-reacting and reacting flow and heat transfer. They can be extended to reacting flow heat transfer studies in future and also may be upgraded to unsteady LES predictions to complement future experimental observations conducted at the in-house test facility.